Malawian president threatens newspaper closings

New York, August 31,
2010--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns threatening comments
made by President Bingu wa Mutharika against Malawian news outlets last week.
Mutharika threatened to close newspapers that report critically about his
administration after the private weeklies Malawi
News and Weekend
Nation cited a regional agency's report forecasting food shortages in
the country, local journalists told CPJ.

"I will close down newspapers that lie and tarnish my
government's image," the president said at an agricultural fair in Blantyre on
Thursday, Agence France-Presse and others reported.
The president told editors to leave "blank pages or else publish pictures of
cows, hyenas, or dogs," if they have nothing positive to report, according to local
reports.

"Instead of making threats and telling editors what to
print, the president should uphold his country's constitutional commitment to
press freedom," said CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. "The president
should allow the press to report freely, especially on such vital matters as
food supply."

Malawi News and Weekend Nationcited
a food supply forecast by the Southern African Development Community (SADC),
which said more than one million Malawians could face shortages in the wake of dry
conditions in the south.

Mutharika, who has been credited for a successful fertilizer
subsidy program, disputed the SADC projections, citing government projections
of a surplus in maize production, local journalists told CPJ. The general
manager of Blantyre Newspapers Limited, which publishes the Malawi News and two other independent
papers, said the company stands by its reporting, according to local
reports.

Article 36 of the Malawi Constitution states: "The press shall have the right to report and
publish freely, within Malawi and abroad, and to be accorded the fullest
possible facilities for access to public information."